FILE – In this Jan. 1, 2017, file photo, San Francisco 49ers head coach Chip Kelly stands on the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara, Calif. Kelly agreed to a five-year, $23.3 million deal to become UCLAs football coach on Saturday, Nov. 25. The former Oregon coach returns to the Pac-12 to replace Jim Mora, who was fired Monday with one game left in his sixth season in Westwood.(AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File)

Chip Kelly will coach UCLA football next year because, after all, who hasn’t?

But for the Bruins who don’t think it will be different, here’s some advice. Hit the salad bar and the StairMaster.

Nate Costa was the quarterback when Kelly came from New Hampshire to be Oregon’s offensive coordinator in 2007. Head coach Mike Bellotti invited the quarterbacks to sit it on the interviews. Kelly, like the others, drew his offense on the whiteboard.

“He even did that faster than anyone else,” Costa said.

Practice began and the snaps came in waves. Kelly kept yelling “Fuji, Fuji,” which was an unprintable acronym for the pace he wanted. He later changed it to “Tempo” to keep people from asking what “Fuji” meant.

There was no mercy for anyone, coaches included. Costa noticed Steve Greatwood, the offensive-line coach, drenched in sweat on Day One.

“The offensive linemen were grumbling a little bit,” said Gary Campbell, who coached Oregon’s running backs. “But when they saw the defensive guys and how they reacted, they decided it would be all right.”

In their second game the Ducks went to Michigan. They gained 624 yards. They had the ball for a total of 17:26. They won, 39-7, the worst loss for Michigan since 1968.

It was going to be all right.

Oregon averaged 38.1 and 41.9 points in Kelly’s first two seasons. He became the head coach in 2009 and went to two Rose Bowls, a Fiesta Bowl and the national championship game.

After four NFL seasons and two firings, he returns to college football, his winning percentage of .867 intact.

“We had a saying,” Costa said. “It was going to be three-and-out or three-and-in. We were either going to score quick or punt quick, and that put the pressure on our defense, which usually responded well.

“Everybody talked about the big plays, but Chip is a run-oriented coach.”

“Our big runs came when our receivers did their job blocking,” Campbell said. “But we spread the field. Our running backs had a lot of field to run to.”

The numbers still leave you numb. From 2010-12, Oregon scored at least 49 points 18 times. From 2009-12 Oregon topped 500 yards in 28 games and rolled up 730 on USC in 2012.

Any team that had enough rope to restrain the green machine had a chance. The Ducks were held under 20 points five times in Kelly’s four seasons and lost four of those games.

But who could do that? Besides, Oregon didn’t lose to lightweights: Two L’s to Stanford and one apiece to Ohio State, Auburn, USC, LSU and Boise State, which throttled the Ducks 19-8 in Kelly’s head-coaching opener.

Kelly used the oxymoron “controlled chaos.” It was actually consistent chaos. The Ducks never were out of character. That, along with the star power, is why UCLA hired Kelly.

And yet his fame was far from inevitable. Kelly was at New Hampshire, in multiple capacities, for 13 years. In 1993, Kelly was the defensive coordinator at Johns Hopkins, where they only hoped to field a football team of which the medical school could be proud.

Now Kelly’s visor, Oregon’s uniform fashion show, and the Ducks’ high-tech perks were identifiable nationally. But college football has stolen all those ideas, including the tempo. Can Kelly reinvent another wheel?

“I don’t know what the next innovation will be, but he’s an innovator,” Costa said. “He’s always searching for something new. He brought the GPS and the Catapult technology to monitor us physically. He measured how far the wide receivers were running. The whole point was recovery. We couldn’t play fast if we didn’t know how to recover.”

Kelly worked for ESPN this year. He has kept the media at a distance, referring to slogans like “Win the day,” and “We just want to keep going 1-0.”

“He’s actually a guy you want to sit and have a couple of beers with,” Costa said. “He likes to have fun. You can talk to him about books, movies, nearly anything. He doesn’t let a lot of people in, but when he does, he’s extremely loyal.”

When Kelly took over he did not demand new assistants, as so many do. He leaned on the accumulated years of Greatwood, Gary Campbell, Tom Osborne, Jim Radcliffe and others. Some might wind up at UCLA. Some trusted UCLA hands might survive.

“I hope they’re patient with him,” Costa said. No problem there. The Bruins haven’t won a Rose Bowl or a Pac-12 since Richard Riordan was mayor. Their fans, at least for a while, will approve any fast-moving dreams.